Live blog: Georgetown at Louisville

UPDATE 9:12 p.m.: Georgetown survives a frantic late effort by Louisville to emerge with the 71-68 upset. The crowd wasn’t pleased with the officiating. One empty bottle of Jim Beam was thrown at one referee as he exited the court. Off the postgame. More to come.

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UPDATE 8:50 p.m.: Huge night for Markel Starks. The sophomore point guard has scored eight of Georgetown’s last 10 points, upping its lead to 63-55.

UPDATE 8:40 p.m.: Two critical 3-pointers from Hollis Thompson and Markel Starks push Georgetown’s lead to 56-49 with 6:35 remaining. Same thing struck me on both shots: how calm and confident both guys appear. Again, not something to overlook in this environment.

UPDATE 8:30 p.m.: Last year’s meeting was a nightmare for Louisville point guard Peyton Siva, to the tune of eight turnovers and 1-for-5 shooting from the field. But Siva appears to have put the performance well behind him. That includes an acrobatic stretch in the second half tonight, where he corralled a steal and layup, fed Gorgui Dieng on a dunk, hit a free throw, then sank a scoop shot while falling down. The last shot gave Louisville a 47-46 lead it clings to with 10:31 remaining.

UPDATE 8:12 p.m.: An unchallenged drive to the hoop by Jason Clark gives Georgetown a 36-35 lead with 17:54 left in the game. Clark, you may remember, scored two points and was 0-for-6 from the field in last season’s meeting.

UPDATE 7:51 p.m.: A pair of dunks from Chane Behanan brought the crowd to life — and I’m seated three feet from Louisville’s pep band, so I likely won’t be able to hear until next week — and sent the Cardinals into halftime with a 35-32 advantage.

Trawick, Porter and Hopkins combined for 17 of Georgetown’s points and, between them, missed one free throw and committed one turnover. An impressive effort in a difficult environment.

And now, some energetic (and erratic) baton-twirling for the halftime entertainment.

UPDATE: 7:30 p.m.: The red-and-black clad crowd in this $238 million arena hasn’t bothered Georgetown’s youngsters. In fact, they looked more composed then the veterans. During one stretch late in the first half, the Hoyas went on a 9-2 run while playing three freshmen and two sophomores. Sure, Greg Whittington missed an easy layup. But reliable Otto Porter drained a pair of difficult jumpers and Jabril Trawick sank a 3-pointer and hit a pair of free throws. Georgetown trails 24-21 with 6:27 left in the half, but the seemingly unflappable youngsters bodes well for the Hoyas.